Eure Majestät

Kapitel 13

Du Peiru was grieving over Ouyang Han's departure and didn't notice Madam Zhao. Jin'er, worried about Du Peiru, also didn't notice Madam Zhao sitting in the pavilion. So they went straight to the villa without paying their respects to Madam Zhao.

Madam Zhao seized the opportunity to make things difficult for Du Peiru, retaliating against her for getting rid of Li Mama and Steward Zhang. "Halt! Don't you even respect me as your mother-in-law? You don't even greet me when you see me, pretending not to see me! Guards! Seize this disrespectful little wretch!"

"How dare you!" Du Peiru glared and shouted.

Seeing Du Peiru's imposing presence, no one dared to approach her.

"Are you deaf? Go and arrest them right now!" Madam Zhao shouted.

Upon hearing this, the crowd was about to step forward to grab him.

Du Peiru shouted sternly, "If any of you dare to touch a hair on my head, I'll kick you all out! Father said I can kick out whoever I want in this Ouyang mansion without reporting to Father or Second Mother, just tell Steward Ma! Anyone who wants to go home and eat their own food can come on over!"

After hearing Du Peiru's words, no one dared to move!

Seeing this, Du Peiru said to Madam Zhao, "Second Madam, we're all women, why are you making things difficult for me? You want Yu-di to inherit the Ouyang family business, and A-Han and I don't care about that, as long as you can persuade Father to let us move out. We will never take a single penny of the Ouyang mansion. Why do you have to go against us at every turn? You know A-Han doesn't want to be an official. As long as you can persuade Father not to let A-Han take the imperial examinations and become an official to inherit his business, we will not only not take a single blade of grass from the Ouyang mansion, but we will also be extremely grateful to you."

"Are you telling the truth?" Madam Zhao simply couldn't believe that there was anyone in this world who didn't love wealth and power.

"Why are there so many servants listening here? Do you think I'm lying to you? Jin'er, let's go!" Du Peiru said, then patted her bottom and left.

From then on, Madam Zhao never caused Du Peiru any trouble.

A month later, at Hengxiang Villa.

Du Peiru paced back and forth, saying, "Didn't you say you'd be back today? Why aren't you back yet? Jin'er, go out and see if your husband has returned?"

"Yes!" Jin'er replied weakly. Alas! Being someone's maid is such a miserable life! She had already run out 108 times to see if the young master had returned! She hoped that heaven would bless the young master to return soon, so that she wouldn't be exhausted to death from this errand-running job! Finally, Jin'er saw that familiar figure in the distance outside the gate of the Ouyang residence.

"Young master, you're finally back! Miss has been waiting for you so long her neck has grown long! If you hadn't come back, the floor in the room would have been worn into a huge hole by Miss! I'm going to inform Miss now!" After saying that, Jin'er ran back to deliver the message.

"Miss! Miss! The young master is back! The young master is back!" Jin'er shouted as she ran back to the villa.

"Is he back? He's really back?" Du Peiru was so excited she didn't know what to do. "Jin'er, can you check if my hair is messy? Are my clothes dirty?"

The wicked accuse the guilty first (9)

"No! No! Everything is fine!" Jin'er said.

Du Peiru tidied up for a while longer, but Ouyang Han was still nowhere to be seen. So she said to Jin'er, "Jin'er, why hasn't he arrived at the villa yet? Go and see what's going on!"

"Yes! I'll go right away!" Jin'er said and left the room. As soon as she opened the door, she saw Ouyang Han pacing back and forth. She said, "Oh dear! Young master, why aren't you coming in yet? Miss is getting impatient waiting for you!"

"Stop talking nonsense! Get out of here!" Du Peiru said angrily.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! This servant will leave now!" Jin'er wisely left the room and considerately closed the door behind her.

Ouyang Han's face was pale. He tried to say something several times, but no words came out.

Du Peiru asked solicitously, "Have you eaten yet?"

Ouyang Han didn't react, so Du Peiru asked again. Only then did Ouyang Han come to his senses and say, "Oh! I...I've already eaten! You haven't eaten yet, have you? I'll eat with you!" So the two sat down to eat.

Du Peiru noticed that Ouyang Han hadn't smiled since returning, and his face was pale with tightly furrowed brows, as if he had many worries he couldn't express. So she asked, "What happened?"

Ouyang Han was startled, nearly dropping the bowl in his hand. He quickly replied, "N-nothing!"

"You don't need to hide it from me anymore! I can tell what happened just by looking at you! Just tell me!" Du Peiru stared at Ouyang Han. Ouyang Han, however, avoided her gaze.

Du Peiru stood up and said, "If you won't tell me, then I'll go ask Dad!"

"Don't go! I'll tell you!" Ouyang Han paused for a long time, he really didn't know how to tell Du Peiru about this.

Du Peiru grew impatient, so she slammed her hand on the table and urged, "Hurry up and tell me!"

Ouyang Han knew there was no way to avoid it, so he spoke up, "After I returned today, the Emperor summoned me to the palace! The Emperor said... the Emperor said..."

"What exactly did the Emperor say?" Du Peiru asked anxiously.

Ouyang gritted his teeth and said, "His Majesty intends to make me his son-in-law!"

"What?" Du Peiru stood up in surprise, dropping the bowl in her hand and shattering it into many pieces.

"Yu Shan!" Ouyang Han stood up, looking at Du Peiru with concern.

Du Peiru tried to calm herself down, then gave a wry smile and said, "I'm fine! Continue, tell me the whole story."

"The Emperor has ordered me to divorce you and marry the princess!" Ouyang Han looked at Du Peiru with concern, afraid that she couldn't bear this blow.

But Du Peiru remained remarkably calm and asked, "And then? What did you say?"

“I told him, ‘One should not forget the friends made in poverty and hardship, nor should one abandon the wife who shared one’s hardships!’” Ouyang Han said, then glanced at Du Peiru.

"And then?" Du Peiru remained calm, as if the matter had nothing to do with her.

The wicked accuse the guilty first (10)

"The Emperor said he could make you a concubine, but I didn't agree. In the end, the Emperor agreed to let you and the princess be of equal status!" Ouyang Han said cautiously.

"Oh! It doesn't matter if it's big or small?" Du Peiru remained calm, as if nothing had happened.

"Yu Shan! Are you alright?" Ouyang Han asked worriedly, regretting not having simply refused the Emperor.

Du Peiru didn't answer, but only asked, "When are you getting married?"

"It's not decided yet! His Majesty is busy with the unrest on the frontier and doesn't have time! His Majesty also said that I should accompany the princess to Mount Wutai tomorrow to eat vegetarian food and worship Buddha, and then we will arrange the marriage after we return! As for the marriage, we can discuss it slowly."

Upon hearing this, Du Peiru swayed slightly.

Upon seeing this, Ouyang Han asked worriedly, "Yushan, are you alright?"

"I'm fine! I'll be fine after I sleep for a while! I need to think it over, think it over..." Du Peiru said, swaying as she walked towards the bed. Ouyang Han tried to help her up, but she pushed him away.

Du Peiru said to Ouyang Han, "You should sleep in the study tonight! I want to be alone for a while!" After saying that, she turned her back to Ouyang Han and lay down fully clothed.

Ouyang Han looked at Du Peiru with heartache, then turned and left. After Ouyang Han closed the door and left, the tears Du Peiru had been forcibly suppressing began to stream down her face. Du Peiru had cried all night and thought all night; she had already formulated a plan in her heart.

Meanwhile, Ouyang Han spent a sleepless night in his study. He deeply regretted agreeing to the Emperor's request. He should have defended his love and family to the death; perhaps in the end, the Emperor would have given up on betrothing the princess to him. Now, he had agreed. If he didn't marry the princess, he would be committing the crime of deceiving the Emperor, a crime punishable by the confiscation of his family's property and the extermination of his clan. If he married the princess, he might lose the person he loved most. If he hadn't agreed to accompany the princess on her trip to Hangzhou, or hadn't spoken to her, or hadn't rescued the child who had fallen into the water, none of this would have happened! He shouldn't have hurt Yu Shan. What should he do? What if Yu Shan left him because of this? Ouyang Han felt a pang of heartache at this thought. As he pondered, dawn broke.

Chapter Eight

So Ouyang Han got up, washed and dressed, and then anxiously paced to Du Peiru's door. He felt like a prisoner awaiting his final judgment.

At this moment, Du Peiru opened the door and smiled at Ouyang Han, saying, "Why didn't you come in after all this time?"

Ouyang Han looked at Du Peiru's face, which showed no trace of sadness, and breathed a sigh of relief. Then he stammered, "I thought... I thought you hadn't gotten up yet!"

“I got up very early today.” Du Peiru paused for a moment, then continued, “I thought about it all night yesterday and finally figured it out. In this world, which man doesn’t have three wives and four concubines…”

Ouyang Han quickly interrupted, "Yushan, I... I really never thought about taking a concubine. You're all I need in this life! But... but..."

The wicked accuse the guilty first (11)

Du Peiru continued, "I know your feelings for me, and I know your predicament. I just want to say that I shouldn't be jealous of Princess Ping'an, after all, she never received your affection. I should accept her with tolerance, because she is the most pitiful one."

"Yu Shan, I..." Ouyang Han was taken aback by his wife's forbearance. For a moment, he couldn't find the words. He felt comforted, but also truly felt guilty towards Princess Ping An. He knew there was no place for her in his heart, and Ouyang Han even felt a pang of pity for her.

"Go and have breakfast quickly. You still have to go to the palace later to accompany the princess to offer incense at Mount Wutai!" Du Peiru said.

"What about you? Have you eaten?" Ouyang Han asked with concern.

"Not yet! Let me pack your things first before you eat!"

"No need to pack! I haven't even unpacked yesterday's luggage yet. I'll just grab it later. Come on! Let's go have breakfast together."

After finishing breakfast, Du Peiru brought over some blank sheets of paper and asked Ouyang Han to sign his name in the lower left corner.

"Why do you need a signature?" Ouyang Han asked, puzzled.

“Sigh! You have no idea how busy the shop is right now, and Yu Feng is busy with weaving and spinning, so he doesn’t have time to manage the shop. What’s most infuriating is that last time I wanted to ship some goods, the boss absolutely refused to let me, insisting that I get a document signed by either Yu Feng or you. It took me ages to find Yu Feng and get him to sign it. Now you should sign and stamp it first, so I don’t have to go through all that trouble,” Du Peiru said.

Ouyang Han listened without doubt, signed his name on several sheets of white paper, and stamped them.

"Alright! You should head out now! Be careful on the road, don't make me worry!" Du Peiru said reluctantly.

"Um! I'll take good care of myself, and you take good care of yourself too! I love you!" Ouyang Han said, his face turning red with embarrassment. To cover it up, he turned around, picked up his bundle, and went out. If he had observed Du Peiru carefully at this moment, he would have noticed that something was wrong with her.

Du Peiru finally heard Ouyang Han utter those three words, but there was no smile on her face. Du Peiru just stood there, stunned, letting tears stream down her face. Making this decision broke her heart. Farewell! The man she loved most; this should be their last meeting. She would never forget this man; those three words he spoke would forever be buried deep in her heart.

Du Peiru called Jin'er to her study and asked her to write down what she had said. Since Du Peiru hadn't practiced calligraphy properly for several months since arriving in this ancient era, she had to ask Jin'er to write it for her.

"What? Miss, you want to divorce your husband!" Jin'er asked Du Peiru in surprise.

"Wrong! It's Ahan who wants to divorce me!" Du Peiru corrected.

"How could that be? The young master loves Miss so much, how could he divorce her?" Jin'er asked incredulously.

"Because he's going to marry the princess! I can't stay," Du Peiru said calmly, suppressing the pain in her heart.

The wicked accuse the guilty first (12)

“Miss, you did this so as not to put the young master in a difficult position. So…” Jin’er couldn’t help but shed tears, and she choked out, “Miss, you are so kind!”

Really? Am I really kind? To find a place to eat and stay, I married into the Ouyang family in place of Yushan. Is that kindness? I couldn't bear to see Ahan with another woman in his arms, so I tricked Ahan into signing a divorce agreement. Is that kindness? Du Peiru had no idea whether these things counted as kindness! Du Peiru thought to herself.

"Write it down, Jin'er!" Du Peiru said with a wry smile.

"Yes!" Jin'er wiped away her tears with her sleeve and wrote down two copies of the divorce letter as Du Peiru had instructed.

Du Peiru was about to ask Jin'er to write another letter to Ouyang Han. Before Jin'er could even start writing, a maid came to invite Du Peiru, saying that Madam Zhao wanted to see her.

Du Peiru put the letter of divorce into her bosom and then took Jin'er to see Madam Zhao.

"What brings you here, Second Sister?" Du Peiru asked casually.

"Please sit down! Lian'er, hurry up and serve the tea!" Madam Zhao said kindly.

Du Peiru was quite surprised that Madam Zhao would treat her so kindly. Regardless of whether Madam Zhao's kindness was genuine or feigned, to avoid inconveniencing her legs, she glanced at the chair and, finding nothing amiss, sat down. As for the cup of tea, she wouldn't dare lick it even if she were killed.

"I've called you here today to discuss something with you!" Madam Zhao said in a gentle voice.